The #1 Objective for Your Novel
I’ve been going over all the essential elements you need in your first scene, any of which need to show…
How Do You Spell Success?
Last week I introduced you to Kevin Kelly’s “treatise” on 1,000 True Fans. Now that you’ve gotten a taste for…
Mass Nouns and Count Nouns
Amount and number (the nouns, not the verbs) often get misused. Amount is a mass noun and you use it…
The Crucial Question You Must Ask in Your Opening Scene
I talked a bit about theme and plot goals in previous weeks’ posts, so once you have all those points…
The Power of Community
I’ve been talking recently about eBook publishing and why it is exploding and overtaking traditional publishing. Why am I bringing…
Walk Toward, Not Towards
In US English, you usually leave off the s on directional terms like toward, forward, and backward. Even though this…
Visible Plot Goal Gets a Twist
I discussed in the last post the need for you to establish your protagonist’s visible plot goal in the first…
One EBook Author’s Success Story
I’ve been reading with much interest individual success stories for previously unknown authors who chose to go the eBook route…
Amid and Among
Writers often get mass nouns and count nouns confused. Among is used with count nouns—meaning you use it with things…